Publications
Detailed Information
Contribution of Counterion Entropy to the Salt-Induced Transition Between B-DNA and Z-DNA
Cited 2 time in
Web of Science
Cited 3 time in Scopus
- Authors
- Issue Date
- 2012-11
- Publisher
- 대한화학회
- Citation
- Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society, Vol.33 No.11, pp.3719-3726
- Abstract
- Formation of Z-DNA, a left-handed double helix, from B-DNA, the canonical right-handed double helix, occurs during important biological processes such as gene expression and DNA transcription. Such B-Z transitions can also be induced by high salt concentration in vitro, but the changes in the relative stability of B-DNA and Z-DNA with salt concentration have not been fully explained despite numerous attempts. For example, electrostatic effects alone could not account for salt-induced B-Z transitions in previous studies. In this paper, we propose that the B-Z transition can be explained if counterion entropy is considered along with the electrostatic interactions. This can be achieved by conducting all-atom, explicit-solvent MD simulations followed by MM-PBSA and molecular DFT calculations. Our MD simulations show that counterions tend to bind at specific sites in B-DNA and Z-DNA, and that more ions cluster near Z-DNA than near B-DNA. Moreover, the difference in counterion ordering near B-DNA and Z-DNA is larger at a low salt concentration than at a high concentration. The results imply that the exclusion of counterions by Z-DNA-binding proteins may facilitate Z-DNA formation under physiological conditions.
- ISSN
- 0253-2964
- Files in This Item:
- There are no files associated with this item.
Related Researcher
- Graduate School of Convergence Science & Technology
- Dept. of Molecular and Biopharmaceutical Sciences
Item View & Download Count
Items in S-Space are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.